Cohn On Ryan

Cohn gives the rundown on what people think are the big whoppers in Ryan's speech. In my view, the thing about the plant in Janesville isn't a lie, just a stupid gotcha. Ryan didn't say Obama closed it. He said Obama said it would be open with government help. That can be read as re-opened. So he's blaming Obama for it not being open even if Obama didn't close it. It's not a lie, just silly. If Obama had said "plants like this one" instead of "this plant" there would be nothing for Ryan to complain about. Also, Cohn points out that Bush policies are to blame for much of the running deficits, and that's true to some extent. But Obama continued many of those policies, including the "surge" in Afghanistan and the Bush tax cuts. Perhaps his arm was twisted to some extent, but I don't see how we can exclude that fact. The worst two are the B-S b.s. and the last about helping those in need. It is very underreported how drastically Ryan's budget - which the House passed, remember, thought it died in the Senate - cuts programs that benefit the poor, both in the short and long run.